Editor,
Apropos the letter titled ‘Ensure availability of wall clocks in exam halls’, published in the 7 December issue of this daily, I would like to further substantiate the fellow aspirant’s point.
The aspirant was absolutely correct in pointing out that only under 5,000 candidates passed CSAT in the APPSCCE 2020 as it was announced by the then secretary in a press briefing. I would like to share my personal experience. Since there were no wall clocks in my exam centre, which was located in one of the remote districts, keeping track of time was difficult. Sometimes, we become so engrossed in solving a problem that five minutes feel like one minute and hence we cannot keep an exact track of time. The exam supervisor was very helpful in this matter. He announced the time every 10 minutes for us in the exam hall itself. However, this was a nuisance for some candidates, so it was also stopped. There were many hurdles and in the end, and I couldn’t clear the prelims only because of CSAT which was actually easy that year.
Therefore, I request APPSC to at least provide wall clocks in every exam centre. If not, allow us to carry analog watches. I think this is a very basic minimum requirement for every exam. Candidates should not even have asked for it. Even UPSC allows candidates to carry analog watches in the exam centres. I fail to understand the logic behind the APPSC’s not allowing us to carry watches as it was clearly mentioned in the admit card. I urge the APPSC to either provide wall clocks in every exam centre or allow us to carry analog clocks.
An aspirant